A great variety of floodlights have been disclosed and used in the prior art. Many of these have housings which contain lamps and various other electrical components, and such housings often each have an access opening which is covered by a hinged, light-transmissive access door during use. This invention is particularly concerned with the relationship of the door to the housing in such floodlights.
Such floodlights of the prior art have a number of problems and deficiencies. When they are exposed to the weather during outdoor use, water often enters their housings even though the floodlights have seals and other means for preventing such water ingress. Another problem relates to the effects of weather on hinges connecting an access door to a floodlight housing and on seals. Over extended periods, exposure to the elements causes corrosion and malfunction of hinges which interfere with easy operation of the access door. Such hinge corrosion can make opening of the access door for servicing and later reclosing difficult.
Quite apart from problems caused by corrosion of hinges, regular servicing of certain floodlights of the prior art, such as replacing lamps, can often be difficult and time-consuming because of difficulty in gaining access to the inside of the housings. Such difficulty in gaining access is in part due to the fact that the floodlights are typically mounted high in the air, in an inconvenient location. But the difficulty also frequently comes from the fact that an excessive number of manipulative steps are necessary for opening and reclosing a floodlight access door. Sometimes, many connectors around the perimeter of the access door, used to obtain a good water-tight seal of the access door when it is closed, must be removed. If fewer connectors are used, resealing the housing may be less difficult, but water ingress more easily occurs.
Even when the access door is in an "open" position, with some floodlights of the prior art it remains difficult to conveniently reach into the housing for servicing. The position and/or orientation of the opened access door often interferes with easy access to inside the housing.
There is a need for an improved floodlight of the type having a hinged light-transmissive access door. There is a need for such a floodlight which is reliably and easily sealed against the ingress of water, and on which the hinges and seals are better protected against corrosion and degradation caused by the elements.
There is also a need for a floodlight of the type described which may easily be opened and closed for servicing, without the need for excessive manipulative steps, and which may be fully opened to allow convenient access to the inside of the housing. Finally, there is a need for an improved floodlight of the type described which may be easily opened without sacrificing resistance to water ingress when it is closed.